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USC student promotes Australia in USA
The spotlight might have been on Bindi Irwin during the recent G’day USA campaign, but there was another Sunshine Coast resident who certainly stood out during the annual promotion of Australian tourism in America.
Maroochydore lifesaver and graduating University of the Sunshine Coast student Claire Parry, 22, donned the distinctive red and yellow uniform of our volunteer lifesavers during the two-week campaign and was a hit in Los Angeles and New York.
Claire answered questions from the media and hundreds of Americans about Australia’s beach lifestyle and surf safety at numerous events. Along the way, she rubbed shoulders with Australian celebrities like Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts, The Veronicas and The Wiggles.
“We attended all the events . . . the industry events, the cultural, arts and film events,’’ she said. “We got to go along and be the backdrop.’’
“People would say ‘you’re not going out dressed in that’,” referring to her bright lifesavers’ uniform. “But this was our ticket in everywhere we went.”
Four lifesavers from different parts of Australia were selected for the G’day USA campaign after the Federal Government declared 2007 the Year of the Surf Lifesaver to mark the 100th anniversary of Surf Life Saving in Australia.
Claire has been a Maroochydore Surf Life Saving Club volunteer for eight years after moving to the Sunshine Coast. She completed high school at Immanuel Lutheran College where she received the Vic Walker Scholarship to study at USC.
She has just completed a combined degree in Business Marketing and Business Management and said some of the skills she gained during her studies helped while she was in the US, especially in answering some tricky questions.
“We had a couple of difficult questions about the Cronulla riots and how safe it was at the beach,’’ she said. “A lot of the questions were related to Steve Irwin’s death and whether was it safe to swim in Australia.”
The G’day USA campaign coincided with the US airing of the documentary, Ocean’s Deadliest, which featured Steve Irwin.
“We spoke to hundreds of people,’’ she said. “We were wearing our lifesaver uniforms and it was the best conversation starter, because people wanted to share their experiences with us,’’ she said.
“They wanted to know about beach safety and which are the best spots to go swimming, as well as what happens where I live. I told them about places like Fraser Island, Montville and Maleny because people don’t want to spend all their holidays at the beach.”
Claire will start work with BOC Gas in Brisbane in the company’s graduate program next week with a much greater appreciation of how much she likes living in Queensland.
“I gained a real sense of pride in Australia and particularly in Queensland to see so many Americans say that they love our country and want to come here,’’ she said.
“I realised I live in such a great spot, where we have free beaches and so many other things that we take for granted.”